Children’s Hospital Los Angeles earns Top Hospital award

For the fifth consecutive year, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles earned the Top Hospital designation from The Leapfrog Group, which annually recognizes the best hospitals in the nation for providing the safest and highest quality healthcare services to patients, according to aDec. 3 news release.

CHLA is one of only 13 children’s hospitals nationally to receive this honor and was the only children’s hospital in Los Angeles County to earn the top award.

“This is an outstanding achievement for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles,” said Richard D. Cordova, FACHE, CHLA president and CEO in thenews release.

Cardova also acknowledged the work by the hospital’s nurses, doctors, staff, the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety team, the board of trustees and the board’s Safety, Quality and Service committee.

Meeting safety amd quality standards

Leapfrog recognizes hospitals with the highest quality care that have demonstrated lower infection rates, medical error prevention, and a reduction of mortality for high-risk procedures and surgeries.

CHLA was selected as a Top Hospital among the 1,324 hospitals nationwide that completed the survey, according to the release. The Leapfrog Hospital Recognition Program establishes hospital-performance standards for preventing medication errors and infections and establishes appropriate ICU physician staffing and safe practices, among other criteria. Based on those standards, the Leapfrog hospital survey calculates an overall quality score for each hospital.

Hospitals with high quality scores have demonstrated strict adherence to Leapfrog’s safety and quality standards.

Other West region hospitals honored

In addition to CHLA, the other West region hospitals to earn Leapfrog’s Top Children’s Hospital designation include Phoenix (Ariz.) Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Calif., according to the release.